PHB Quickie: Cryptids Island

What’s up, Poptropicans? It’s Lucky Joker here with a PHB Quickie where I quickly review one of Poptropica’s many great adventures. Today I’ll be reviewing the riveting Cryptids Island. Let’s run through it!

(Be warned: Spoilers ahead!)

If you love urban legends and creatures, you’ll love this island. The task at hand is to find four of the most popular cryptids and prove their existence for the head of the Mews Corporation of scientific discovery, Harold Mews.

I really liked this premise. I find it as interesting and compelling as one could possibly be, in fact. It definitely makes for a thrilling and exciting journey. The creatures, of course, were just as cool. Who isn’t fascinated by mysterious beasts like Nessie or Bigfoot?

On the other hand, none of the Poptropican characters really stood out for me besides Mews — not even the island’s main antagonist, Gretchen Grimlock. There was an absence of any unique personality and everyone was just a bit lackluster, in my opinion. Again, Gretchen Grimlock could have been more heavily featured throughout the quest (like Black Widow, Mademoiselle Moreau, or Myron Van Buren on their islands).

As far as gameplay goes, a quibble I have, albeit slight, is that there’s a lot of back and forth from each location to the lab in Mews’s mansion. (By now, though, our Poptropicans must be used to that 😅) The tasks/mini-games, however, were great! At first the dart game was kind of hindering, but eventually you get the hang of it. And the climb up to the temple in the Himalayas was challenging, but not irritatingly so — so that’s a plus.

Despite my complaints, Cryptids Island gets an impressive 4.5/5 yeti footprints rating from me! I have to admit that when I was younger, I never paid this island any attention, but upon replaying it I discovered a newfound love for it! The positives majorly outweigh the negatives in this case. If you’re a member and haven’t played through this island at least once, or even if you just want to revisit this classic, I totally recommend doing so — especially since it will be disappearing at the end of the year.

And that about wraps it up! What are your thoughts on this island? Sound off in the comments!

Also, don’t forget to participate in the Tribal Tournament currently happening on the PHC Discord server. You’ll definitely have a blast! Thank you for reading as always, and I’ll talk to you all soon.

– Lucky Joker 🍀